About two thirds of fresh university graduates in Vietnam, choosing job security over income, want to work in the public sector, a survey has found.

The survey, conducted by the General Statistics Office and the International Labor Organization (ILO), revealed that 64.2 percent of entry-level graduates in 2015 preferred working for the government rather than the private sector.

The fast-growing economy potentially provided graduates with many opportunities to widen the scope of their job search, especially into the private sector, but many only had their eyes on the public sector.

While the attraction of public sector employment is easy to understand given concerns about job security, the ability of the sector to absorb a significant number of young workers is increasingly limited, said the ILO.

The first round of the survey was conducted in 2012-2013 involving more than 2,700 young people, followed by the second round in 2015 with more than 2,200 participants.

According to the ILO, 50.5 percent of the respondents said they managed to find a job that suited their qualification and interest. Meanwhile 26 percent of graduates were forced to settle for a job that actually required a lower skill level than their qualifications.

“While Vietnam does not experience alarming high youth unemployment as in many other countries, ensuring quality jobs for the young generation remains a great test for the nation,” according to the ILO.

With its economic growth estimated at 6.3 percent last year, Vietnam saw a slight 1 percent increase in vacancies for fresh graduates to 1.64 million jobs, according to official statistics.